The Day After
by ToastOnTheSidePlease
Summary: Back in Wartwood, it turns out to be rough going for Anne as she tries to rest and recover in the aftermath of the events of the toads' tower.


Hey there! This idea popped into my head in the last few days, I couldn't help but type it up. And from the looks of it, plenty of others have been feeling, super super-similarly inspired to write comfort themed works of their own for what appears to be a growing subgenre of fanworks (and honestly, how can we not?). So I hope you all enjoy my own little take on Anne and her amphibious family!

* * *

Hop-Pop had just settled down at the kitchen table with a fresh mug of tea when a hard knock at the door roused him right back to his feet.

"All right, I'm a-comin! Hold your horseflies!"

Getting to the front entrance was currently trickier than usual. After the Plantar family had settled back at the farm, it hadn't been long before a steady stream of Wartwood residents had started showing up, each one bearing a token of appreciation for everything that their champion had done for them back at the' tower. From what Hop-Pop had gathered from the grateful visitors, not only were they proud of their Anne for standing up for them against their toad overlords, but a good many had convinced themselves that she had indeed purposely directed Wally to plant the near-lethal amount of boom-shrooms that had reduced the fortress to rubble (and with Grime's army now successfully scattered, lots of frogs were also feeling pretty thankful that they wouldn't have to be paying any taxes anytime for the foreseeable future).

Hop-Pop had thought that the town had gone over the top when they had fallen for Anne's pimples. But that haul was nothing compared to all of the gifts of gratitude that now filled the first floor of the house, with probably plenty more to come. After taking a winding path through an obstacle course of present-piles, Hop-Pop finally reached the door.

"Sorry for the wait." He found the town's full-time healer (and local part-time bounty hunter) waiting for him. "Oh hey Tuti."

"Anne here?" She asked in her gruff, no-nonsense matter.

"She is, but she's catchin' up on her re-_HUMPHH_"

She casually shoved a small handful of papers at him with such force that it made the elder frog double over. "No problem, I still give present. Certificates, each one good for free full body massage. Very relaxing. I think she will want very much. Overthrow of ruling toads very stressful."

"Mighty thoughtful of ya. I'll let her know." Hop-Pop wheezed as she handed another slip of paper. "And this is…."

"Special certificate. Good for one free bounty-hunt." Tuti explained. "Anne tell me who to hunt, I get for her. Will do in under twenty-four hours. Is Tuti's guarantee."

"Uh, if you don't mind me sayin', but that sounds….a tad extreme. For a thank-you gift, at least." Hop-Pop couldn't help but gently protest.

"No. Is very good gift. Anne will like." The stonefaced Tuti shot back.

"...I'm sure she will." He quickly decided to let the matter rest.

"Certificate non-transferable." She added before leaving.

As Hop-Pop shut the door, he heard a squeak of hinges. He turned around to watch a lanky human teen clad in t-shirt and shorts clamber up from the cellar. Due to a present pile in the way, she couldn't see the squat old frog. But he could see both her and the worrisome bags hanging heavily under her eyes.

"Anne?"

Anne performed a full-body jerk of surprise. "Huh? Wha?"

"It's okay!" Hop-Pop emerged into her line of sight. "It's jus' me."

"Oh, hey. Sorry, I'm sorta out of it right now. Just wanted to get some water." She rubbed her eyes and looked uncomprehendingly at the piles and stacks all around her. "Huh. We got a lotta mail today."

"Anne, you gotten any sleep yet?" Hop-Pop fussed.

"Yeah." She could immediately tell that he wasn't being sold on her act. "I mean….I've gotten some. Not much, but some. It's kinda hard because….you know, spent the whole night at the two parties, and all that other jazz happened at the second one, aaaannnd….my sleep cycle's all like, way thrown off."

The wan grin she put on was even less convincing than her excuse. She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot until Hop-Pop offered, "Y'know Anne, if you need anything-"

"I know, I know."

"Jus' wanted to remind you that you can always-"

"I know!" She replied much more forcefully than she had anticipated, and immediately her face twisted with regret. "I'm sorry, Hop-Pop."

"You doin' okay? You're not lookin' too good, kiddo."

"I'm fine….really. Look, I….I think I really just need some more time alone right now. I gotta catch up on sleep, and also like, decompress and all that stuff."

"Okay, then. If you say so." Hop-Pop kindly relented before fetching a cup of water from the kitchen. She let him do that much, and she even managed a tiny but genuine ghost of a smile for him before she plodded back into the cellar.

Once she let the door close behind her however, the girl hunched over under the combined weight of her stress and weariness. Of course Hop-Pop had been able to spot the obvious. They'd been home from their epic night for hours and so far she still hadn't gotten so much as a moment of sleep, though not for lack of trying. After sipping her water and setting it aside, she flopped onto her bed, shut her eyes tight and hoped that this time it would work.

Anne tried to focus on how tired she was…how heavy her limbs felt…and just nice it would be to finally doze off….

No luck. Right on cue, the events of the night began replaying vividly in her mind. She saw it all over again. There was the initial joyous reunion with Sasha. Finding out what she mercilessly had planned for Hop-Pop and the rest of the frogs. The brutal sword fight. The frantic desperation at the top of the crumbling tower, where she held onto Sash with everything she had. When she had to watch and feel Sasha let go. When she had to watch her semiconscious friend being carried away by the toads to who only knew where….

And as everything started playing over again, she quickly became wrapped up in a thick tangle of thoughts. Was Sasha even someone she could call her friend any more? She had said that she had just wanted to get them home…both of them, not just herself. But if she went along with the plan, she would have had to betray Hop-Pop and all the other frogs. Sasha hadn't cared about anyone else's lives, just as long as she got what she wanted…no, but it _hadn't_ been just about her. At least it definitely hadn't been at the end.

"_Maybe you're better off without me." _

She had said those words before letting go. She had let go so she wouldn't end up literally taking everyone down with her. There was no denying that. But… just minutes before she had slashed at Sprig. Sasha had drawn out her sword and angrily slashed at him without any hesitation at all. What would have happened if she hadn't been there to block the blow?

It had been like this ever since Anne had first gone to bed. This same horrible cycle of getting caught up deep in her own head, again and again and again. To say that there was a lot she was still trying to process would definitely have been putting it lightly. Anne groaned and tugged at her hair, as if it was a switch that might finally turn off the constant tangle of thoughts.

"Stop it." She feebly protested to her brain. The fresh memories still played on, over and over and over.

"_...We have got to make an example out of him…." _

"_...We don't even belong here….don't you want to get back home? See your family?"_

"_...I think I've had enough of you, squeaky toy…." _

Her mind still raced like a runaway freight train. She just wanted it to stop. She just wanted to sleep. She was so tired already. Why couldn't she stop?

Part of her thought about maybe going upstairs and maybe talking to Hop-Pop, but she rejected her own idea almost immediately. Talking about everything would just mean having to go through it all over again, right? And she had already done enough of that for one day. No, she was going to get some rest so her head would stop going full speed on nonstop replay. If she could finally sleep, then she wouldn't have to rewatch her friend dangling in her grasp, while she just barely gripped to the crumbling stone of a tower that was collapsing beneath them, all while Sasha was staring up with that look in her eyes…..

And there she went _again_. She rolled onto her stomach and covered her head with her crude stuffed cat-erpiller. It wouldn't stop. She was so tired. So very, very tired. Anne just needed a break from it all. All she wanted to do was go to sleep and escape it, just for a few hours. Even one hour. Or maybe even just a half-hour. Was thirty minutes of sleep too much to ask for?

She wanted it to stop. She just wanted to sleep so it could finally stop.

Again she saw Sasha let go and slip out of her grasp, and again she felt half a dozen conflicting emotions all at once. And when she mentally rewatched it once more, she realized her eyes were now wet. How long had she been crying for? Was she crying for her friend? Was she crying for herself? Were these just frustration tears? She couldn't tell.

Again. she watched Sasha talk her down. Once again she watched herself blocking Sprig from a swinging sword just in time. Fresh tension tightened her muscles and knotted up her stomach. Her eyelids sagged heavily, but they would never fully close.

By now she was so exhausted that it almost hurt. Why couldn't she just sleep?

She was so tired.

Back up on the first floor, Hop-Pop had just found some space to put an enormous bundle of fresh-cut tulips (courtesy of Chuck) when heard two young amphibians hop downstairs.

"Whoooaaaaa!" Sprig gawked in wide-eyed awe at the gift stacks towering up all around. "Hop-Pop, look! It's a city of presents, population: us!"

"And just what do think you kids are doin' up?" Hop-Pop huffed.

"What?" Polly said defensively. "We slept a couple hours!"

"Yeah!" Sprig and his sister both tried to put on expressions that they thought would make them look the most awake and alert. "We're probably all caught up now!"

"Caught up my webbed foot. You two were up allllllll night partyin', escapin' ragin' fires, walkin' through sewers and escapin' castles. I say that you two should go back to bed for at least two more hours." He declared.

"But we're not tired!" Sprig stifled a yawn. "Besides, it's hard to sleep when we can hear other frogs visiting every few minutes. And now….just _look_! You're telling us to go back to bed when we've got all of this to look through?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm-"

"_Sweet mama_!" Polly had just found a pack of hand-written gift certificates and was now trembling uncontrollably with excitement as she read one of them. "Is this for real? One free bounty hunt? Hop-Pop! Hop-Pop, can we use this on-"

"It's for Anne and it's non-transferable." Her grandfather quickly snatched it away. "All of this here is for Anne. And you two just can't just start goin' through her gifts all willy-nilly when without not around, so it might as well be back to bed for the both of you."

This turned out to be far from steel tight argument that he thought it would be.

"Wait….Anne's not here?" Polly shot a disbelieving look to her equally incredulous brother. Both the kids assumed that the hero of the hour had been hidden somewhere amongst the presents, but a quick scrambling search confirmed that Anne was indeed absent. The siblings were genuinely horrified when they met up again.

"So she's getting cool stuff from the whole entire town, and she's not even here to enjoy any of it? What is this madness?!" Sprig exclaimed dramatically.

"Yeah, she's gotta see her sweet haul!" Polly proclaimed with the utmost urgency, and the two made a beeline for the cellar.

"Nuh-uh! Kids, you let her-" Hop-Pop was interrupted when the newest visitor clomped right up to the still-open front door.

"Special delivery!" Stumpy announced before handing a greasy package off to Hop-Pop. The elderly amphibian struggled to simultaneously a grasp on the package while bodily blocking the kids the cellar.

"Whoa! Hold on now, Stumpy, just what is-"

"One order of mosquito pad siew, without the mosquitoes." The cook proudly announced. "All on the house of course."

"Okay fine, very nice, I'm sure she'll enjoy it." Hop-Pop said distractedly as he tried to herd his stubborn grandkids away. "Knock it off now, let Anne get her rest-"

"Oh, but that ain't everything." The chef went on. "Not after last night when she helped pull our legs out of the fryin' pan like that. Ha, I still can't believe it! That was genius the way she got Wally to light up the tower, and all while actin' like it wasn't even what she wanted. Anyways, I also still need to thank the lass for the extra shot of business she gave the restaurant after she helped me finally get the new takeout and delivery options up and runnin' last week. Hold on."

Stumpy hurried off to a large wagon hooked to a massive mudskipper and unloaded what was unmistakably several large barrels. "Four family-sized orders o' me famous slop, comin' up!"

He promptly began struggling under the weight of his generous delivery. Hop-Pop put the stir-fried noodles aside and hurried out to help. "Oh for the love of Frog…."

With their path now wide open, Sprig and Polly zipped downstairs with an excited chorus. "Anne! Anne! AnneAnneAnneAnne-"

Anne shot up in her bed at the commotion. The two only needed to take one look at her exhaustion-lined, tear-soaked face and they both skidded to a clumsy halt at the bottom of the stairs. After scrambling back up onto their feet (well, in Sprig's case at least), the next few moments passed like an awkward eternity.

By now Anne barely had the mental bandwidth to function. She needed a moment to register who had shown up, but when she did the girl burst into fresh tears. "Guys, w-what are you doing?"

"We….we were just…." Polly tried to string together a few words. Her big brother meanwhile seemed almost literally tongue-tied with dismay. Their friend looked even worse than she did back at the tower. The pair were left at a loss.

"We thought that you…..uh…." Sprig found his voice again. "We thought that might want to look at….at all the…..the stuff everyone's been sending you. You, uh…..got a lot."

"That was all for me?" Anne said innocently. She recalled all the weird piles she had seen in the living room earlier and finally realized the obvious.

"Yeah….and it looks like you got some really good stuff." Polly mumbled.

"Anne?" Sprig asked. "Are you-"

"N-no." Anne wiped her eyes and sniffled miserably. "Just….just go away…..I'm...j-just…..so…tired."

"Is there anything we can-"

"No! P-please, I….I-I just..."

"Anne-"

"I just….want...to….._sleep_! Leave….me…._alone_!" By now Anne was on the verge of breaking out into full-fledged sobs. She just wanted to be alone. That was all. That's all she wanted. That's all she needed. To be left in peace and finally get some rest. End of story.

Despite her weepy command, neither one of them moved an inch back upstairs. They were both rooted to the spot, unable to leave her quagmired in distress like this. The awkward silence that accompanied their entrance earlier now seemed like paradise compared to right now. Polly met a glance from her big brother and she let out a small whimper. He wordlessly pat her head.

"Anne…." He spoke up again and braved a step forward.

"Not now….I just wanna sleep…." Anne practically begged through her tears. He took that one step backwards, but went no further. They kept hovering at the foot of the stairs, their faces twisted up with worry.

Anne couldn't believe this. A flash of extra frustration coursed through her. Why couldn't they just go already? Why was her family so stubborn? Why were they...

Wait...her family.

And Suddenly it felt like she could think clearly for the first time in the last few frustrating hours. Was she still physically and mentally exhausted as could possibly be? Yes, of course. But she finally realized that as much as she needed rest, there was actually something that she needed even more than that right now. And lucky for her, they were only a couple feet away. She wiped her eyes furiously against the corner of a blanket and took a few deep breaths.

"Guys?" When she spoke again, she still didn't sound great. But there was noticeable enough change in her tone. Both the young frog and tadpole automatically hopped towards her a little.

"Yeah?" They chorused.

"Uuuhhhh…..so…...I-I know this is gonna be sorta sudden….but….I kinda….changed my mind." She said sheepishly. "You think you'd mind hanging out down here for a little while? 'Cuz the whole all by myself thing….it hasn't been working out."

They briefly became two blurs, and in a flash she was snared in a comforting double-hug. Anne felt better almost instantaneously. As tension flooded from her system she let out a gasp of relief.

"Anne, what's going on?" Sprig fussed.

"Yeah, just what the heck was _that_ all about?" Polly demanded more forcefully. Anne needed a couple moments to get her thoughts in order, but when she did she was surprised by how clear-headedly she was able to look back at things.

"Let's see….okay, you know how last night was pretty intense? Like, kind of really intense? So, it turns out I'm not really over it yet. Like, not at all. And so since I spent the whole morning up in my own head and couldn't sleep, I got super stress-tired, and then you guys showed up and so then I pretty much short-circuited and made things super weird for everyone just now...yeah, I think that just about covers everything." She diagnosed herself. The amphibian siblings looked to her, then at one another and shared understanding nods.

"Yeah, I get that."

"Sounds about right to me!"

As Anne started to think about the scene she had just made, embarrassment began to swiftly creep up over her. She clasped the two tighter, buried her face in top of Sprig's head and began muttering, "Oooohh, I made things _so_ weird. Uuugggghhh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry-"

"Hey! Hey, no need for that. It's okay. You're okay!" Sprig rubbed her back. "Seriously! It's fine. It's totally fine."

"Thanks dude," She wiped her eyes on his shoulder and grinned weakly. "But that whole freakout right now? When you guys showed up and I just got mad and cried at you when I could have just said 'Hey thanks for checking in, I don't think I'm doing okay right now?' Definitely did not feel totally fine."

"Why not? Anne, you went through a lot. And it hasn't even been a day, we just got back this morning." He reminded.

"Yeah, give yourself a break already! That biz on the tower was even crazier than that thing cannibals from two weeks ago!" said Polly.

"Oh yeah. Almost forgot about those guys." Anne mused out loud.

"Seriously, that was some real Suspicion Island-level stuff you had to go through." The polliwog pointed out. "Of _course_ you're feeling weird about it because that was all the _WEIRDEST_. If I was in your place, I know I wouldn't be doing okay. And this is me we're talking about!"

"Anne, if I lost you for three months, found you, got betrayed by you, then had to fight you, then had to try to save you and _THEN_ lost you all over again, I know I definitely wouldn't be doing okay afterwards. You know what? I'd probably spend the whole next day just screaming non-stop until I completely lost my voice." Sprig smilingly stated as a total matter of fact.

"And _then_ he'd cry." His little sister chimed in. "But mutely."

"Well yeah, that just goes without saying! I'd totally just sob away until I was a dried-up husk." He readily affirmed. Anne got a much-needed laugh from their total sincerity.

"Of course you guys would say that."

"We say it because we mean it! It's 100% okay to still feel upset about everything you went through." Sprig said, then his gaze turned a little more stern as he looked her right in the eyes. "But...do you know what's not okay?"

"Not letting anyone know that I wasn't doing so hot?" Anne could spot the after-school-special lesson coming from a mile away.

"You got it!" He hugged her again. "All you gotta do is let us know and we'll be right there. And if you don't let us know, we're still gonna figure it out and we're still gonna be right there."

"I should have guessed." She chuckled.

"For real." He vowed with an unwavering grin. "You won't be able to stop us. Totally gonna be here for you whether you want it or not. Right here. Us, here for you, you're not gonna stop us, can't stop us. So you might as well just plan to tell us whenever this happens again."

"That actually sounds good to me." Anne confessed, then half-joked, "Keep up the reminders hopefully I won't embarrass myself so bad next time."

"We can start right now! Don't be dumb and not tell us when you're all stressed out and sad." Polly said bluntly.

"Thanks, but think you could be just a little gentler about it?" Anne snorted at the cheeky polliwog.

"Uh-huh! Anne, we love you. So don't be dumb and not tell us when you're stressed out and sad." She replied without missing a beat. Anne found it impossible to not crack up into a giggle-fit.

"That's more like it." She gratefully hugged the two closer, and the two redoubled their squeeze on her.

"Soooo…..I know this is kind of early, but how are you doing now?" Sprig checked in.

"Wellllll, I haven't slept yet in over twenty-four hours, still can't think straight, not sure not to think about one of my best human friends anymore…but definitely feeling better than I was before."

"And….do you wanna talk about any of it yet?" He kindly offered. "Just throwing it out there."

"I will. Don't think I have it in me to get into any of that right now, but….I definitely wanna tell you later." She decided. "If that's cool with you guys."

"Emotional support team ready and waiting whenever you are!" Sprig announced.

"In that case...wanna go check out your loot instead?" Polly piped up with an excited grin

"Yeeeaaahh! Let's go check out that sweet haul!" They joined in with her for a shared whoop, but almost immediately Anne was hit with a heavy yawn. "Hey, actually, you guys mind if we wait a sec? I think I need a little bit to get myself together….you know, after all of that. Just gimme a minute and we'll head up…."

Outside the house, Hop-Pop helped roll the last of several near-overloaded barrels into place by the front door."

"Alright, that's everything." Stumpy used his spatula to scrape some sweat from his forehead. "Ye got yer classic slop, spicy curry-style slop, mild curry-style slop, and there at the end is yer hot and sour slop. That should be enough to keep ye and yer crew filled up for a good while."

"All right, well thanks for the-_oh, dangit_!" Hop-Pop remembered groaned as he remembered. Moving at the speed of a frog half his age, he bolted inside and threw open the cellar door. "Kids! Kids, are you down there-"

The sharp shushes silenced him. He peered down to see a close huddle on the bed. Anne's heavy breathing signaled that she had finally passed out into a long-overdue and well-earned slumber. As she slept she had one adoptive family member held close in each arm, and the little frog and tadpole in her grasp didn't seem to mind. Sprig flashed a thumbs-up, and Polly made a sharp gesture that said in no uncertain terms that anyone who dared to wake up their Anne would regret it. With a soft smile and a nod, Hop-Pop drew himself back upstairs and softly shut the door, leaving them all in peace.

"Good job, kids." He murmured approvingly. "I guess you can jus' keep an eye on her down there-"

"Hopidiah!" Miss Croaker was all smiles as she appeared at the door with a tape measure that she enthusiastically waved about. "Where's Anne at? Can't knit her a couple of pairs of spider-silk thank-you socks without some measurements!"

The old frog sighed as went to take care of it. "And I'll keep 'em at bay out here…."


End file.
